Sure-footed by nature

Soccer background helped kicker Gano succeed on gridiron

TALLAHASSEE — One of the best kickers in college football might never have attempted a field goal if his high school team hadn't needed a body with a strong leg.

Graham Gano played soccer for 13 years and never thought much about football until a couple of buddies at Tate High in Pensacola approached him.

"So I was like, 'Yeah, whatever, I'll give it a shot,' " Gano, a Florida State senior, said.

The first time he kicked a football, he placed it on a tee, backed up 10 yards, ran toward it and sent it through the uprights.

"I had no clue ... I knew I had to put it through the two posts," Gano said. "I had that down. A little different than trying to kick underneath the bar ... but yeah, it was just kind of natural."

It would seem so. Five years later, Gano has made 17 consecutive field goal attempts, including five of at least 50 yards. He is a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award, given annually to the nation's best kicker, and FSU coach Bobby Bowden said Gano - who also handles punting and kickoff duties - could "very easily" be the Seminoles' MVP.

Gano, who hasn't missed a field goal attempt since his first one of the season Sept. 20 against Wake Forest, made two more kicks during FSU's 41-27 victory against Clemson. He's on such a streak that his first attempt, from 52 yards, bounced off the right upright and fell through anyway.

For a while, his luck wasn't so good. About three weeks before the season began, Gano damaged cartilage and tore the meniscus in his right knee. The injury was especially disappointing given that Gano, who stood out a season ago as FSU's punter, had waited for three seasons for his chance to become the Seminoles' place kicker.

"Those first few weeks were horrible," Gano said of the injury. "I didn't think there was any way I was going to be able to play because [there] just didn't seem to be any progress ...

"And then I started getting strength back in my knee and my leg and that's when I started thinking, maybe I'll be able to play this year."

The Seminoles have a chance to win their first Atlantic Coast championship since 2005 in large part because of Gano. He has made at least two field goals in FSU's past six games, and his kicks represented the difference in the Seminoles' victories at Miami and N.C. State.

Asked about Gano's season, FSU offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher knocked on the wooden podium in front of him and said, "He's phenomenal."

Seminoles quarterback Christian Ponder, one of Gano's roommates, said the kicker "takes a lot of pressure" off the offense. With a weak kicker, Ponder might have to force throws in an effort to convert first downs while in the opponent's territory.

But once FSU is "inside the 40," Ponder said, "[Gano] has done awesome."

Gano, who was born in Scotland and didn't come to the United States until he was in the third grade, grew up in a military family. His dad served in the Navy, and his brother, Stewart, served with the Marines in Iraq. A season ago, Gano would send his brother DVDs of FSU games.